Award-winning Irish cream liqueur brand Coole Swan has taken markets around the world by storm since its launch in 2010. Coole Swan is a fresh Irish blend of whiskey, chocolate, and cream, created by a team of mixologists and drinks industry experts in Co. Cavan.
Coole Swan
The rise of the brand has been championed by Mary Sadlier, who took over the role of CEO at the company in 2011. Since then, Mary and her husband Phillip Brady have been championing Coole Swan as an unruly reinvention of cream liqueur for today’s world and the next generation of creams consumers. In that time, Coole Swan has won numerous awards globally, including becoming the first ever Irish Spirit to receive a rating of 96/100 from Wine Enthusiast in 2010. The brand received the same near-perfect rating again in 2020.
From its base in Boyne Valley, County Meath, Coole Swan exports its premium product worldwide. But for Mary, the brand’s most valuable market outside home soil is Northern Ireland.
Coole Swan launched in Northern Ireland in 2017 and has since been embraced by the North as a fresh new take on a classic Irish product. Business First spoke to Mary to find out what it is that makes the Northern Ireland market special for the brand and her plans for growing its popularity amongst consumers.
“The Northern Ireland market is brilliant and still has a wholesome feel to it,” Mary said. “There’s an amazing selection of independent liquor stores in the North like The Vineyard in Belfast and Vintage Wine Merchants in Antrim, to name but a few. I’m really proud we are able to support these independent stores and work with them on the ground. We’ve made great friends in the North this way and it’s become a flagship market for us.”
Mary continued: “Northern Ireland is a fantastic market and it’s great to do business here. People across the country are open and willing to talk, and you’ll be given a chance as an independent brand. If you have a good product, the Northern Irish market is a fantastic place to test and grow it in, and we’ve certainly seen this with Coole Swan.”
When asked about how the people of Northern Ireland have responded to the brand, Mary said: “They’ve welcomed us with open arms. Coole Swan is a high-quality product and Northern Irish customers understand quality. If they like a product, they’ll really embrace it and that is exactly what they did with Coole Swan, and we love them for it.
“We’ve also seen exceptional creativity from bartenders in Northern Ireland who are reimagining and reinventing cocktails with Coole Swan like nowhere else. In 2022, we held a cocktail competition to find a new, delicious Coole Swan serve, and we were not disappointed. We aways knew how versatile Coole Swan was but the bartenders of Northern Ireland took it to a whole we level.”
Six years on from Coole Swan’s expansion into Northern Ireland, what does Mary look forward to for the brand in the market in 2023?
“This year will bring more collaborations. We want to champion the product and make Coole Swan a go-to drink in the North,” said Mary.
“We’re also beginning to plan our next cocktail competition and have our eyes set on Northern Ireland as the place to launch it following the success we had there in 2022. Watch this space!”
Mary’s favourite Coole Swan serve is neat, over ice. If she were to choose a cocktail, it would be the Flor de Manzana, created by Jorden Wint, the winner of Coole Swan’s Northern Ireland cocktail competition in 2022. Mary says it was the story behind the wining cocktail that got her.
“Jorden loved the idea of a Pina Colada but not the coconut or pineapple. She said ‘’the Caribbean may have pineapples and rum, but Ireland has whiskey and apples’’ and so the Flor de Manzana / ‘Apple Bloom’ was born. A perfect blend of creamy yet crisp, rich yet refreshing. Inspired by a classic, but not limited by it – what’s not to love about that logic.”
Coole Swan is available in Tesco, Supervalu, Centra and a range of independent retailers across Northern Ireland. A full list of stockists is available here. Price from £22.
Customers can discover more information about this perfectly crafted Irish product and the inventive ways to serve it at www.cooleswan.com, or follow on social media for all the latest updates @cooleswan on Facebook and @coole_swan on Instagram.
For adults aged 18+ over. Drink Coole Swan responsibly, visit www.drinkaware.co.uk for more information.
